VANTAGEFIELD MANUAL
FM-24-01SECTION
04 / GUIDES

Small-Team FOB Build Guide

A Forward Operating Base is the unlock condition for almost everything past sandbags and barbed wire: a walled staging area, a supply store, a protected vehicle spawn, and access to mortars, anti-air, and the drill rig. This is what to put down and in what order when it's your squad building it, not a full platoon.

FOB core stats

Supply cost
30 supplies
Health
15,000 hp
Destroyed by
5x C4
Build radius
60 m, ground only

Cash cost to deploy: sources disagree here too (one guide states $4,887, another $7,500). Budget for the higher figure and treat anything under it as a bonus.

What changed in Season 2

  • + Structures cost more across the board. Bulkhead's stated goal is making each one a considered investment, so plan the ring before you spend.
  • + Hammers no longer breach doors or gates. The Halligan bar breaches both (7 uses now), so a single airlock still matters.
  • + A destroyed FOB pays the attackers up to +$7,500 based on the supplies it held (maxed at 25,000). A stockpiled FOB is now a bigger prize.
  • + Mortar restock from a munitions pallet went 75 to 150, and a new firing animation slows the rate of fire. Fewer shells per drop-off.
  • + Talon reload went 2 s to 5 s and its restock 50 to 200. Hot Zone Magnet went 2,250 to 2,750 supplies.
  • + New pieces: MG Nest (manned M2 Browning, large hammer), Large Shelter (medium hammer), Wooden Step (small hammer).

Buildable catalog

Roughly 50+ pieces total across the catalog (community sites count this two different ways - 53 individual items on one, ~25 grouped categories on another). The shape that matters for a small squad:

CategoryExamplesSupply costNote
FortificationsRecon Tent, HESCO blocks/walls, bunkers, barbed wire, hedgehogs5-200 suppliesSmall pieces (sandbags, wire, tents) don't need a FOB at all. Season 2: door 80, gate 200, Bremmer wall 32, bunker/air raid shelter/crow's nest 200.
DefencesL81 Mortar, Stingray, Talon 9K-SAM, Vanguard CIWS, MG Nest600-1,200 suppliesSeason 2: mortar 600 (was 150), Stingray 650 (was 150), Talon 650 (was 1,000), CIWS 1,200 (was 1,500), new MG Nest 650.
SupportBuilder's Radio, Loudspeaker, Refuel/Repair Station, Drill Rig, Large Shelter17-1,801 suppliesSeason 2: Drill Rig needs 2,000 fuel to start and runs 300 s max. New Large Shelter 250.

Small-team build order

  1. 1Console first. Ring the FOB console in a double-height HESCO before anything else - a dead console loses the base, and it's the first thing a solo raider goes for.
  2. 2One personnel entrance, not two. Every door is a place the enemy can breach uncontested since only your team can operate it. A single airlock (two doors in series) beats convenience.
  3. 3Keep the interior open. A maze of interior walls gives an attacker who breaches the outer ring somewhere to hide once they're inside - the goal is a clean field of fire back at the breach point, not cover for both sides.
  4. 4Wire outside, funneled to the airlock. Barbed wire along the outer wall forces foot traffic into the open; angle it to bottleneck at your one entrance instead of leaving multiple soft approaches.
  5. 5Emplacements set back one block. Keep the mortar and other indirect fire a full HESCO block clear of the wall so your own wall doesn't clip the firing arc.
  6. 6Vehicle gate gets the same airlock logic. Outer gate closes before the inner one opens - a stationary vehicle mid-gate is not a breach.
  7. 7Tower goes up once the ring is closed. A recon tower at a corner watches the wire funnel and the ground beyond it; it's also the cheapest piece in the catalog, so it's not worth rushing ahead of the wall itself.

Layout

FOB123456789

1 FOB console - Center of the build radius. Loses the base if it dies, so it never sits on the outer wall line.

2 Double-height HESCO ring - Two blocks tall around the console before anything else goes up.

3 Personnel airlock - Two doors in series. Breaching the outer one still leaves the inner one closed.

4 Vehicle gate, outer + inner - Outer gate closes before the inner one opens, same airlock logic for vehicles.

5 Wire ring + funnel - Barbed wire outside the wall, angled to push foot traffic toward the airlock instead of the blind sides.

6 Recon tower - Corner placement, sightline over the wire funnel and the open ground beyond it.

7 L81 mortar, 1-block clearance - Set back from the ring so the wall doesn't clip its own arc.

8 Sandbag firing slits - Directional gaps in one wall face, angled down so defenders shoot without exposing the walkway.

9 Refuel / repair pad - Next to the vehicle gate. Fuel Supplies only work inside the FOB radius, so this is where a supply run ends.

Related: Logistics & Resupply covers what to actually stock a FOB with once it's standing.

Sources - compiled 2026-10-16

Community-run WARDOGS references, not an official Bulkhead API. Numbers can drift after a balance patch.